Diamond Dwellings

Real Estate News Category

Photo Friday… Hiking in the Sky

Posted By Lane Bailey on January 14th, 2011

Since Flashback Friday and Wayback Wednesday have been highlighting posts from 1 and 2 years ago, I have covered posts for the last several years. Wayback Wednesday will continue, and will feature posts from either one or two years ago that week.

Sky Hike at Stone Mountain Park

Ropes courses are nothing new. And this one is pretty cool. There are three levels. The lowest level is around 12′-15′ off the ground. Each of the next two levels is about 12′ higher. It might not seem that way when you are standing on the ground, but it is pretty high by the time you get up to the third level.

And those seemingly simple obstacles are much more difficult when you are standing precariously on a rope 30′ in the air.

: Image by lane.bailey via Flickr

While we were getting our Annual Passes, we could see the Sky Hike out of the window of the Pass photo booth. I have to admit that I was laughing pretty hard at some of the people that were up on the course. A few minutes later, I am sure that there were folks in the same place laughing at me.

Sky Hike is included in the Mountain Membership, or the One Day Adventure Pass. There is also an option for getting JUST the Sky Hike. I recommend getting a Mountain Membership if you live in the area. I also recommend getting an Annual Parking Pass ($20) for at least one of your family vehicles, as there are numerous free events for the family at the park… and the $35/year is WAY better than paying $10 to park there for the day… it’s just $20 for the annual parking pass if you are a Mountain Member, too.

And while you are there, you might as well ride a Duck…

If you follow me on Foursquare, you’ll know when I am at the park for a walk around the mountain (nice 5 mile hike).

Here is the website for Stone Mountain Park.

Stone Mountain Sky Hike from LaneBailey.com

Photo Friday… Hiking in the Sky (lanebailey.com)

Lilburn, GA Market Report, November 2010

Posted By Lane Bailey on December 17th, 2010

: Image via Wikipedia

Market stats for Lilburn, November, 2010, indicates that there are 425 properties on the market (as of November 30th). Overall, there is about a 11.8 month supply of properties. Lilburn is actually mid-pack among cities in Gwinnett County. Absorption Rates had been improving since March, until September. In fact, in March there were 15.3 months of inventory.

In the sub-$200k arena, there are 264 listings, with about an 8.6 month supply. This represents most of the sales in the market area, and reflects the same improvement in inventory levels, continuously since March, until October. Sales were on par with November 2009 (28 v 24).

Between $200k and $400k, there are 134 listings for sale, and about 28.7 months of supply. This segment has also been getting stronger each month since March, until September. There were only 2 sales in September 2010, compared to 11 last year and 6 in October v 18 in 2009. November held 6 sales in 2010 v 9 in 2009. The expected end of the tax credit last year started pushing sales down in Nov. 2009.

From $400k to $600k, there are 22 homes on the market. The absorption rate is around 33 months. There were no sales in this segment in May, June, July or October this year. There were only 4 sales in August and September(combined). November had 1 sale (2 last year). Last summer was much stronger overall. With just a few sales, just one or two can make a huge difference.

From $600k to $800k, $800k to $1M and Above $1M, there are 5 listings (combined), but too few sales to have any sort of reliable number of months of inventory. There has been one sale in the last four months, but prior, there had only been a few other sales in 2010 (January, March and August). One of the listings is above $1M (none between $800k and $1M), and there is no market activity in the last 12 months for that range…

Lilburn is in Gwinnett County, GA, just outside of Atlanta. As of the 2000 Census, there were 11,307 people in Lilburn, but that is only including people in the city limits, and there has been a lot of growth since 2000 in Gwinnett County. It was incorporated in 1910. Lilburn is home to Parkview High School, and also has students that the Brookwood, Berkmar and Meadowcreek clusters. It is also home to Killian Hill Christian School, Providence Chrisian Academy, St. John Neumann Catholic School and Parkview Christian School. Possibly the most famous resident of Lilburn is General Beauregard Lee, a groundhog with a better winter prediction record that Puxatawnee Phil up in PA. Dominique Wilkins, formerly of the Atlanta Hawks also lives in Lilburn.

I have a page dedicated to Lilburn Market Data.

Lilburn, GA Market Report, October 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Lilburn, GA Market Report, September 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Lilburn, GA Market Report, August 2010 (lanebailey.com)

Lilburn GA market Report from LaneBailey.com

Flashback Friday… Where in the World is Lilburn?

Posted By Lane Bailey on December 10th, 2010

Last year I wrote a nice little post about Lilburn… This is a really nice place to live, and I thought it might be fun to dive into the history of the town. It certainly is interesting, as are the histories of many of the localities around Gwinnett County, GA.

I’ll let you read the post to find out that history, but I wanted to add a little bit to it…

My wife and I have made this area of Gwinnett County, GA, our home for the last nine years… and she lived nearby, in Tucker, prior to that. We decided to stay here to raise our two boys, as well. And we are constantly glad over that decision.

A couple of weeks ago, while at the Arcado Elementary School Night at the local Chick-fil-a, there was a constant stream of friends and neighbors chatting and catching up. A week before that, at a Family Night event, it was much the same. During trips to the grocery store, we run into the parents of classmates of our kids, clients, friends and neighbors. A trip to the park is much the same.

All of that is to say that there is a tremendous sense of community here. Belonging. Acceptance.

A few months ago, a little boy named Al suffered life threatening burns. The community rallied to his support, hosting fund-raisers and looking for other ways to help his family during their time of need. Al has made an incredible recovery, and has actually been able to return to school. But the outpouring of support hasn’t waned.

A visit to a Parkview High School football game or even a quick run up to Bruster’s Ice Cream yields a similar result… friends, neighbors and others we know from the community are there with warm greetings.

This is a wonderful place to call home. If you’d like to live here… give me a call. Lane Bailey. 678-200-5895.

Lilburn, GA Market Report, October 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Lilburn, GA Market Report, September 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Lilburn, GA Market Report, August 2010 (lanebailey.com)
There is a new City Hall coming to Lilburn, GA… (lanebailey.com)
Big League Dreams another step closer to Lilburn… (lanebailey.com)

Where in the World is Lilburn, GA from LaneBailey.com

Flashback Friday… Absorption Rates, What Are They?

Posted By Lane Bailey on December 4th, 2010

: Image via Wikipedia

I talk about Absorption Rates all of the time… In fact, in at least 8 posts a month (all of my market report posts) Absorption Rates play a key role. Understanding what they are and why they matter is a key part of understanding my market reports.

Last year I wrote an in-depth post about exactly what Absorption Rates mean. I tried to make it a little more real by talking about how it relates to keeping a stock of frozen Pizza around the house.

The concept isn’t terribly difficult to understand, but can sound complicated… It is one of those things that a lot of people smack themselves in the forehead when they all of a sudden “get it”… and wonder why they didn’t see it all along.

Drop in and take a look… This is a post that I will reference often…

Duluth, GA, Market Report, October 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Suwanee, GA, Market Report, September 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Gwinnett County, GA, Market Report, August 2010 (lanebailey.com)
Lilburn, GA Market Report, October 2010 (lilburndwellings.com)
Flashback Friday… Absorption Rates, What Are They? (lanebailey.com) original source

Lilburn, GA Market Report, October 2010

Posted By Lane Bailey on November 29th, 2010

: Image via Wikipedia

Market stats for Lilburn, October, 2010, indicates that there are 444 properties on the market (as of October 31st). Overall, there is about a 10.7 month supply of properties. Lilburn is actually mid-pack among cities in Gwinnett County. Absorption Rates had been improving since March, until September. In fact, in March there was 15.3 months of inventory.

In the sub-$200k arena, there are 278 listings, with about an 8.2 month supply. This represents most of the sales in the market area, and reflects the same improvement in inventory levels, continuously since March, until October. And, one other thing to keep in mind is that sales were strong compared to October 2009 (32 v 26).

Between $200k and $400k, there are 139 listings for sale, and about 24.5 months of supply. This segment has also been getting stronger each month since March, until last month. There were only 2 sales in September 2010, compared to 11 last year and 6 in October v 18 in 2009.

From $400k to $600k, there are 21 homes on the market. The absorption rate is around 15.8 months. There were no sales in this segment in May, June, July or October this year. There were only 4 sales in August and September(combined). Last summer was much stronger overall. With just a few sales, just one or two can make a huge difference.

Above $600k, there are 6 listings, but too few sales to have any sort of reliable number of months of inventory. There has been one sale in the last three months, but prior, there had only been a few other sales in 2010 (January, March and August). One of the listings is above $800k, and there is no market activity in the last 12 months for that range…

I have a page dedicated to Lilburn Market Data.